A Creation
by fringeperson
Summary: Haru is leaving home, moving away, making her own way in life. She isn't 100 percent sure that she wants to leave everyone behind though... None are my characters, and I think you may not like the way it ends...
1. Chapter 1

**A Creation**

**Chapter 1**

Perhaps it wasn't ladylike, but it was Muta who was keeping her company, not the Baron, so Haru didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed about licking her bowl clean. It had ice cream in it, her favourite flavour what's more, she wasn't going to leave any of it behind if she could help it.

Muta wasn't about to tell the Baron either, he was too busy doing basically the same thing to a dish of anchovies she had given him – licking up all the juices that tasted so good to him, but that Haru couldn't stand.

"So apart from being sat on again today, how has life been treating you Muta?" Haru asked, scratching him behind the ears when he was finished with his fish.

"You're getting very good at that," he said, closing his eyes in content for a moment. He respected a woman who stood up for herself, yes, he also respected a woman who knew how to scratch him just right and was happy to feed him.

"Well, I get a lot of practice," Haru pointed out, a laugh in her voice. She slipped down from her chair so that she could do an even better job and asked her question again. She knew he had heard the first time, but he had been busy with that last bit of anchovy juice.

"Eh, fairly regular. Birdbrain's moulting, Baron is spring cleaning, no one's been by needing our help since you," he paused in his recitation of what was and wasn't happening to yawn. It was quite impressive. "Lune and Yuki are expecting their first litter, which has the whole kingdom buzzing," the fat cat stretched and clawed the carpet a little bit, clearly unimpressed. It was, after all, something that happened to regular cats all the time.

"Haru! Leave the cat alone and get back to packing your stuff!" Naoko called to her daughter from the hall, going from one room to another.

"Packing?" Muta asked, looking from where the redhead had been to Haru and back a couple of times.

"Yeah," Haru said, pulling a face. "I'm off to University, and I'll be living in a Uni residency, since it's in the next town. Mum said I could leave a lot of my stuff here, since I'll be coming back for holidays and stuff, but it's kinda the first part of leaving home. I'm really gonna miss everything, particularly you Muta," she added, giving him a last rub before standing up to return to the task at hand.

The fat cat followed the young woman up to her room, and sat in the doorway, watching her pack.

"What are you going to do at this University?" Muta asked, checking his fur just in case he'd missed a little bit of anchovy.

"Waste three years of my life stressing about exams and papers probably, if not longer," Haru said, taking clothes out of her wardrobe and putting them in a large cardboard box. "I'm doing a Bachelor of Arts and Teaching."

"Isn't that an odd combination?"

"It is, but I get to go because of an Arts scholarship, and I really like the idea of teaching one day, if being an artist doesn't work out, you know?"

"Arts scholarship?" the fat cat was curious. A scholarship for arts meant that she had some real talent in the area, or she wouldn't have gotten it.

Haru smiled. She knew what he was getting at. Going once more to her wardrobe, the tallish girl removed a painting she had done the year before. It was her favourite, and her mother had paid for it to be framed. It was of that moment when the Baron had twirled her in his arms, dancing before the Cat King in his kingdom, except she had made all the cats people instead. Every time she looked at it, she heard that waltz playing again, and was back in the Baron's arms – at least in her mind. Others had sworn that as they looked at it, the dancers were moving.

"Pretty good kid," Muta said. "You should show the Baron that, he loves stuff like that."

"Muta," Haru giggled. "Haven't you noticed yet?" she asked, bringing the picture closer to the cat and pointing to something by the bottom corner of the head table.

"Hey! That's me!" The fat cat exclaimed, staring at a large cat eating from a glass bowl.

"Yep, and Toto is flying past this window here. I know he wasn't really there, but I felt like I had to have everyone," Haru said, pointing to the shadowy bird soaring in the blue sky beyond. If you hadn't known they were there, or hadn't been looking for them, you wouldn't have noticed the fat cat or the crow outside. They were normal things that people saw every day and didn't notice, but they added just that little bit of reality to the picture.

"What's a great picture like that doing hidden in your cupboard?" Muta demanded, appreciating it all the more now that he could see that he was in it. "It should be on a wall, hanging proudly for the world to see it. That deserves to be admired, that does!"

Haru sighed softly and wrapped the picture back up in the old blanket that was keeping it safe from the world, and put it away in her wardrobe again.

"_Sometimes, I can hear it talking,"_ this was what she should not tell Muta. He would go on at her about hearing voices. Oh, she could hear the music playing again through her mind, could remember just where the Baron's hand had touched her, but the painting … sometimes the figures talked, and it wasn't anything she could remember any of them saying at the time. It was the sweet nothings that lovers whisper to each other, or the king and his adviser discussing what a nice couple they made, and the guests speculating on when the dancers would be married. Sometimes even the cat would yawn, or complain about there not being enough food.

"It's a fantasy created from a memory Muta. If I had it out all the time, I might forget the memory and remember only the fantasy," this is what she did say as she closed the door on the picture. She didn't lie to her fat friend, it was – to a certain extent – true, but it wasn't the main reason.

Muta just grunted. The painting had him in it; that was enough reason for him to want to show the world and shout from the hills how great it was, even though he knew nothing about art.

"I still think you ought to show the Baron, he's the one that knows about art and stuff," Muta said, looking at the wardrobe for a little while longer.

"I don't leave until Monday," Haru said, stuffing shoes into a plastic bag before putting them in the box with her clothes. "You have four days to convince the Baron to come and see it. It's too big for me to carry through town to the Bureau."

"You'll be home every day?" he didn't want to bring the Baron and then find out that Haru wouldn't be home.

"Except Saturday, I'll be out with Hiromi for a goodbye shop, getting my text books and stationary and stuff like that," she said, folding the top of the box down.

"I'll bring him on Sunday then, or I'm not Renaldo Moon," the fat cat said, a smile on his face.

"Has Toto found out about your criminal history yet?" Haru asked, remembering that Muta had changed his name because the Cat Kingdom had declared him a criminal after eating all the fish in the lake.

"No," Muta said. "And if you don't mind, I'd like to keep it that way," he added.

Haru paused, her hand just a few centimetres from the next box. An idea was beginning to make itself known, and she began to smile.

"I won't say anything, but you bring them _both_ on Sunday, I'll get Mum out of the house for a while, and we can have our own little party. I would like to say goodbye properly, and thank you of course," she said, giving the grouchy old fatso another pat.

"Deal," he said, eyes lighting up at the promise of more food. Turning tail, he left to begin the process of convincing the Creations to leave the refuge behind and visit the lovely young lady who had won all their hearts in the short time they had spent together.

Haru sighed and returned to her packing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hey Muta," Toto said, looking down from his pedestal. "I wouldn't go in just now, he's doing it again." The two, it would be easy to say, didn't always exactly get along, but there had been and still occasionally were times when the cat and the bird banded together, on the same side of an argument.

"Yeah, I can hear it," the cat replied, cocking his ear to the Bureau door.

Since they had saved Haru from the Cat Kingdom three years before, the Baron had been playing one particular record on his phonograph a lot. He would stare into space and for all appearances forget that the world even existed.

He had been spring cleaning earlier, but he had put an LP on to keep him company while he dusted, and his hand had found this particular one, and the cleaning had stopped.

"How's Haru?" the crow asked, shaking a few feathers loose.

"She's growing up," Muta said, resting against the tall pillar and staring up at the sky. It was nearly sunset, and the roof on the world was changing colour, no longer just blue, but orange and gold as well.

"It happens," the bird conceded, bowing his large head. "She couldn't remain a sweet young girl forever I suppose."

The record finished. Muta heard the last note and hurried to the door. He had to talk to the Baron before the figurine could start it again.

"Baron!" it was a close thing, the needle had been almost down at the beginning again. Muta suppressed a sigh of relief as he watched the doll turn off the phonograph to listen to what he had to say.

"Ah, Muta, how has your day been?"

"I went to see Haru," the guaranteed way to get the Baron's attention, though the doll would never think about it as such; but he always paid more attention when the young lady was involved.

"Indeed, and how is she?"

Toto opened the balcony window and let himself into the Bureau. He wanted to hear what else Muta had to say about the girl. From the way the large feline had moved for the door when the music finished, it had to be important, or at least interesting.

"She's leaving for University on Monday," he announced, taking his usual seat on the Baron's couch.

"She's certainly growing up then. What will she be studying?" asked the Baron, almost in that dream-like state again, like when he was listening to the music.

"She's got an arts scholarship, but she also wants to do teaching."

"That's wise, having a backup just in case art falls through," said the crow.

"I don't think she really needs it. She showed me this painting she did, looked good to me. I don't know anything about art though, said she ought to show it to the Baron," Muta answered, turning to answer the large bird.

"Oh? So is she going to visit us?" Toto asked, just a little excited.

"Nah, the picture's too big for her to carry it here. She's invited all of us over to her place for a little goodbye party on Sunday afternoon, since she'll be leaving the next day. Said she didn't want to leave without saying goodbye," the white cat added, tickling behind his own brown ear, trying to recapture the feeling of Haru rubbing it just the right way.

"Us leave the refuge?" Toto seemed to be the only creation taking part in the conversation; the Baron was only listening, slowly drinking his tea. There was the same expression on his face as when he was listening to that music.

"Well? It's been done before, and this is for a really good cause. Would you want Haru to leave town without saying goodbye and good luck?" Muta pointed out.

"No," the Baron said, just quietly. Chicken and Marshmallow turned to the gentleman cat. "We'll go on Sunday, it would be inexcusable to not at the very least wish her well with her future before she leaves."

"Good!" Muta was pleased that it had been so quick and easy. Of course, if the Baron had been faster in beginning the record again, the telling of such news and passing of the invitation would have been put off. It could well easily have been put off until the Sunday in question, by which time it may have been too late.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Mum, you know there's a sale on at the haberdashery?" Haru asked casually, looking in the paper at lunchtime.

"There is?" Naoko demanded. "When?" The woman was set to bolt, good fabrics cheap was something she was always on the lookout for.

"Now," the daughter said, looking at her mother over the sheets of print. "Gone for hours," she said, staring after her now vanished mother, a satisfied smirk on her face. The clutter of the woman grabbing handbag and keys, putting on her shoes and slamming the door behind her never ceased to amuse her only child.

"Time to get cooking," she said to herself, folding up the paper. She cleared the table and washed the dishes before putting on her apron and fetching out the mixer and cake tins. Ingredients were combined and the oven was preheated. She may have been leaving home the next day, beginning her University life, but for now she was expecting guests and she hadn't a care beyond not burning the cake and wondering when they would arrive.

"Hey Chicky!"

Haru smiled to hear Muta at the door. He had probably let himself in through the cat flap she had put in for him – it was actually a flap for a medium sized dog, but she wasn't about to tell him that. She took the cake out of the oven then went to greet them all.

While Muta curled about her legs – a sure sign that he was pleased with himself – Haru opened the door to let in Toto and the Baron. The figurine was riding the statue's back, as usual, but leapt down just inside the door. Toto, however, flew straight into the kitchen and took a perch on one of the chair backs.

"It really is wonderful to see you all again," Haru said, closing the door behind them, unable to check the smile on her face. It would start to hurt her cheeks soon; it was that large and unmoveable.

"I hope you don't mind, I wasn't quite sure what everyone liked, so I just baked a few cupcakes, an angel fruit cake and –" _ding_ "– that will be the souffle!" Haru yelped, rushing for the whitegoods and mitts. Removing the delicate dessert, she held her breath until it was down on the counter. When it rested still intact and lovely, she sighed. "Perfect, thank goodness."

"If you don't become a professional chef Chicky, you're wasting your talents," Muta said, licking a few crumbs off his whiskers. They had sat down on a spread of cushions to enjoy the food. Haru had also whipped cream, bought fresh cherries and brewed a pot of tea, which the Baron had commented was very fine.

"No, I like to cook for friends, but I couldn't do it for money. Part of what makes cakes taste good is the attitude you have when you're baking. If you don't enjoy yourself, the cake won't be as good, and I don't think I could really enjoy doing this kind of thing every day just for a cheque," Haru said, smiling at the flattery.

"Bear it in mind, that's all I ask. You said you would probably have to find work sometime, after all. There are worse options than being a baker in a nice little shop you know," the slightly fatter cat said. His girth had expanded a bit with all the food, but it would probably go down with the walk back to the Bureau – none of the food was really heavy.

"I promise Muta."

"Now, what is this about a painting? Old Moota has been dropping hints for four days, and I can't bear it any more," Toto said. Enjoying the name Haru had accidentally given the fat cat when they all first met. It suited him even more now than it had then, making Haru blush at her slip of the tongue all those years ago.

"If you can be peaceable for five minutes, I'll go and get it," she said, getting up from the cushions.

The Baron had been quiet, speaking only on the excellence of the food and drink, and making general enquiry about her health. Talk of the weather had not yet come, but Haru feared that it would. She hoped that he would like the picture.

Taking it out of the wardrobe, Haru left it wrapped in the towel as she took it downstairs. Toto and Muta were sitting with the Baron between them, pretending that the other did not exist – she had asked them to be peaceable, so rather than fight as they usually did, they went for the other extreme. The Baron was simply sipping his tea.

"Any one would wonder that my friends have any life in them. Certainly, I do not recognise you. Muta had warmth and life, Toto was witty and energetic, and whatever has become of the Baron? Still sipping tea, but a shadow of his former self, I fear," Haru said softly and a little coyly as she entered the room once more, placing the covered artwork in her lap when she sat down.

The three males blinked a few times and stared at her as she smiled at them.

"Of course, Hiromi would wonder at my having friends of such shape, and all male no less," Haru added with a chuckle.

"Just show 'em the picture Chicky," Muta said when he was over the surprise of her little speech.

Haru bowed her head and pulled away the towel cover.

"They're moving," Toto said, staring at the picture. "They're paint on canvas but I would swear that the dancers are moving."

"Next you'll say you saw the bird flap its wings," Muta said, pointing to the shadow Haru had put flying past the window.

"That looks like me!" the bird exclaimed, looking from the picture to Haru.

"Well, it _is_ meant to," Haru said cheekily.

"I'm in it too," Muta said, pointing to the large cat by the head table.

The Baron just stared at the picture. He could hear the music all over again, remembered the feel of Haru moving beneath his touch, and the pounding of his heart as he wished that they could just keep dancing, or that she would not let go of him.

He saw the gloved hands of the dancer come up to the face of his partner – she looked just like Haru. He saw the figure lean closer to her face. He saw red – but when he blinked, they had never moved.

"What do you think, Baron?" Haru asked, her arms were curled around the frame as it sat in her lap.

"It's frightening, how alive it seems. I'd have sworn I just saw the dancers – " he cut himself off. Toto had said that the dancers appeared to be dancing, but that was simply the illusion of movement. A kiss was … more difficult to explain.

"I've had ridiculously large offers for this painting," Haru said quietly. "I've heard people say that they've seen the dancers make the steps, the adviser lean over to the king, and the courtiers making light conversation. I think it's time I put it away again," she finished, draping the towel over it again before standing up.

"Miss Haru? May I accompany you?" asked the feline gentleman, putting down his teacup as he stood.

"Of course."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Is something the matter Baron? Only, when you were looking at the picture, you seemed upset…" Haru said, looking up at him. She was carrying him on her shoulder, rather than making him climb the stairs on his own.

"I saw Muta and Toto in the picture, and I recognised the building…"

"I turned all the cats except Muta into people," Haru explained, answering the question she thought he was trying to ask. "Most of them, I mixed a person I knew with the cat. If the people looked at the picture, they wouldn't see themselves any more, neither would the cats, but if you had them all in a room and told them what to look for, they might. There are, I suppose, in the whole picture only four figures that aren't mix-ups of people I know. Toto, Muta, me… and you."

"I didn't see a cat figurine anywhere," the Baron said.

"You're my dance partner," Haru said, surprised that he hadn't figured this out. In her room, she knelt down in front of her wardrobe, put the picture up against it and took the cover off again.

"Who did you mix me with?" he asked, supposing that whomever that might be would be the lucky guy Haru would be going out with, or something like that.

"I didn't," Haru said, just staring at the picture again. "You weren't listening. I didn't know anyone like you, I still don't. I took the tail away, and then just imagined how your face would change if you were turned into a human, the way I was almost turned into a cat."

"_Let me steal you away…"_

Haru gasped. She had heard them talking before, when she was alone and almost asleep. She knew that the voice of her dance partner was the voice of the Baron, but she had never heard the dancers speaking while she was so awake.

"I saw him kiss her before," the Baron said. "Now this."

Haru stared at the figurine. "You can hear them too? I thought I must have been going mad… That would have been terrible, to be driven mad by a painting I put my heart into."

"Whenever a person creates something, creates it with all their heart, that creation is given a soul," the Baron said, quoting himself from the day they had met.

"You mean – but I didn't create them, I just… re-represented them…"

"They are not aware, as you and I are, that they are merely a painting, or that there is a world beyond their frame," the Baron said, soothing her fears.

"If only we could have been so fortunate as to be together as they are," Haru said, running a finger down the Baron's back gently. "Perhaps we can dream that we are them, and then we could stay together that way."

He felt his fur stand on end at the wonder of the thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"You really do exquisite work, Miss Yoshioka," the professor said, taking the obligatory five minutes to stare at the work of each student. "Though I wonder at where you get your ideas from," he added, raising a quizzical brow at the scholarship student.

"This one is a gift for a very dear friend. It's a sort of joke between us, I'm so fond of cats, I must have been one in a previous life or something, so I'm doing this picture for him; me as a cat," she explained, pausing in her delicate work. It was a miniature portrait, only ten centimetres square.

"I see, and the other cat?"

"That's him," Haru said, realising only after she had spoken how much like a girl in love she sounded.

"For cats, you both dress well," the professor said sceptically, but he recognised talent, and the picture, for all that he thought the subject matter odd, was excellent.

Haru just smiled a slightly goofy smile and shrugged. She watched him shake his head and move on to the next artist before returning to her gift for the Baron.

"So what's the deal with this guy? Is he a Romeo to your Juliet or what?" asked Phebe, the girl behind her, who was giving her hand a break from holding the brush for a little while.

"Right down to the 'never gonna happen' part," Haru answered, looking in the little mirror she had brought to study her eyes, the only part of her that she absolutely had to get right for the Baron. The rest she could remember from being freaked when she looked in the mirror and saw that she had cat features, but eyes were always difficult.

"Ouch, sorry about that," Phebe said, picking up her brush again.

"Thanks," Haru answered, plying paint to canvas once more.

By the time class had come to an end, Haru had completed her own feline face – everything else was still just faint pencil lines on the tiny canvas. She wanted every detail to be perfect, so she was prepared to take her time with it. She would do the base colours for her dress back in her room at the uni residency block. If none of the professors, lecturers or masters gave her some serious homework then she might even finish the gown. She had completed all her essays – making a habit of starting them the instant she was assigned them, and deciding to finish them that same week if not day was paying off.

"I know I don't make a practice of giving you homework," the professor's voice rang through the studio as the students all started to pack up their art supplies. "However, before next class I want you all to choose a theme for the rest of your work this year."

There was a fairly even split of students groaning about more stuff to think about, and students who didn't know how they were going to fit all of their artistic ideas into just one theme.

Haru just wrote it down in her diary of things to do when she got home that night, and made sure that her canvas would survive the rest of the day until she got home. Whatever her theme might be it would be inspired by or relate in some way to her adventure in the Cat Kingdom. That was all that she really knew, of course, she wouldn't be able to say that the Cat Kingdom was her theme, no one else would understand.

On the other hand, she could make them understand with her art… no. If all she was going to do was paint memories only she had, then she had no right to expect her audience to follow along. She had to tell a new story, but one that others would find engaging.

Haru sighed as she sat down and put the light on her canvas back in her room. It shouldn't be that hard really – thinking up a theme for the rest of her year's artwork. It had to be easier than that essay she had written on the various methods for getting teenagers to do what they're told rather than what they want to do.

When had that happened? Her Haru-kitten figure was tilting her head to the side a little, resting where the Baron's shoulder would be. Oh well, it was cute anyway, so she wasn't about to change it.

"Right down to the 'never gonna happen' part," Haru sighed, remembering that little comment from Phebe earlier. Well, maybe for real it would never be able to happen, but what if she could paint a world where it could? _Romeo and Juliet, remember? They _died_ in the end._ Haru rolled her eyes as the internal argument began. For some reason, the instant three sides appeared, two of them would be in the voices of Toto and Muta.

_I'm not dead, neither is he, and we don't have feuding families. We have it a whole lot easier than they did. Maybe…_ Haru smiled at the thought. She had a theme that she could give to her art teacher, and she would be able to get away with it because everyone knew how much the old man liked the theory of reincarnation. Haru wasn't sure she believed in it – in fact, she was almost certain that she didn't – but she hadn't told him that yet.

_Romeo and Juliet – A Reincarnated Love. Perfect._ She thought to herself, finishing the yellow gown her kitten self was wearing in the miniature portrait.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Naoko was surprised at her daughter – sending a letter to the cat – but she had also sent a letter to her, so that made up for it. The redhead gave the fat cat the envelope when he showed up for his anchovy lunch, and had felt compelled to add that it was from Haru, though she had no idea why.

What really shocked her though was that the old fatso seemed more interested in the letter than his lunch, which was very odd. Oh, yes, he ate it all, but he didn't spend the usual extra half hour making sure he had every last little bit out of the bowl and off his fur, just picked up the letter and trotted off.

Naoko shook her head in wonderment and returned to her quilting.

Muta knew better than to run on a full stomach, it was bad for the digestion, but he did move quickly as he made his way through the town and back to the Bureau. No one had said anything, but they all wanted news of Haru, particularly the Baron, who was playing that song even more than before.

It was about to drive him crazy, and Toto was being stone more often so that he didn't have to listen to it.

"What's gotten into you fatso? I saw you just about running through town today," the crow quipped, waking up from his stony slumber to tease the large feline.

"We got a letter from Haru," Muta answered, too excited about the letter to have even noticed the slur on his physique.

Both of them noticed the sudden silence from within the Bureau though – Baron had been playing it again – but at Muta's words the music had come to an abrupt stop. The figurine himself exited the large double doors with what might in a lesser person have been eagerness, but it was the Baron, so it was probably just a trick of the light.

"What does she say?" Toto asked at last. The Baron, for all his surely imagined haste to ask the very same thing, was unable to speak.

"I haven't opened it yet, here Baron, you do the honours," he said, handing over the envelope.

The Baron forced himself to be calm as he accepted the letter and opened it. He read aloud:

_Dear Muta,_

_I figure that since you're probably still going round to my old house for food, this letter will find you easily enough. I'm settling in well in the Uni residency, and the classes are great – most of the time._

_In a couple of months my first year will be finished, but before that can happen we have to suffer a final assessment and displaying our work in an exhibition. I'm not too worried about the assessment… my teacher and his artsy friends really like my stuff. All the same, I'd really like all of you at the Bureau to come to the exhibition, and Lune and Yuki too, but I suppose I'll just have to get through it on my own, since Mum can't come._

_At least Hiromi can't come either, she would only go on at me about my subject matter; I don't even like to think about what she would have to say._

_The professor says that we ought to start trying to sell our pieces, get a name for ourselves or something, so I have a couple of pieces up for sale "by consultation with artist". That means that anyone who wants to buy one of my pictures has to find me and ask. They're my least favourite pieces, so I won't mind letting go of them, and I have photos of them for my portfolio, which is the really important part. Apparently, most of the money artist's get is from either auctions or prints of their works._

_I'm sorry, I'm probably boring you, going on about my Uni stuff. Really, I'd just like to hear from you, from everyone there at the Bureau. I miss you all so much, but, like Mum is forever saying, a girl can't have everything she wants all the time, it would be bad for her character._

_If you want to write, Mum has my address, so just leave letters with my name on lying around the house, they'll get to me._

_I love, and miss you all. Haru._

"It's good to hear that she's doing well," Toto said, breaking the silence that had fallen when the Baron finished reading the letter.

"Yeah, but I tell you what, I'd really like to rock up to that exhibition of hers, just to see the surprise on her face," Muta added, stretching comfortably in his chair.

"I don't see why we can't," said the Baron at last, still staring at the letter in his hands. Haru had taken a great deal of trouble to write them a letter than wasn't ridiculously large for any of them to read from – the paper she had used was only slightly larger than the sheets upon his desk.

"Toto," he said, tearing his eyes from the letter. "Think you can manage it?" The old gleam had returned to the Baron's emerald eyes, a challenge before him. How to plan a visit to Miss Haru's exhibition, and not be noticed once he – _they­_ – were all there.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Haru was hovering in the corner at the end of the wall that held most of her pieces. All of her work for the year was hanging on the wall, even the piece that was a present for the Baron – her teacher had told her that nothing was to be gotten rid of until the final assessment was over. She wanted to give it to him herself anyway.

Something brushed against her leg, and she looked down to see what it was. Shock encompassed her face.

"Surprise Chicky!" Muta said, smiling up at her. "So, how many of these have me in them?" he asked, a large grin on his face in the style that only cats can wear.

"Muta!" Haru forced herself to whisper, bending down to pet the over-sized marshmallow of a cat. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see if you'd painted me some more," stated the moon-like tom. "Baron and Toto came too, but they're waiting out back. The Baron figured it wouldn't be that smart for all of us to just walk in."

Haru nodded in mute understanding. "I can let you in after hours," she said. "I'm an exhibiting artist, so I've been given a key, to my section at least."

"That's all we came to see, and you too of course," he added, turning his head just slightly. He had almost forgotten just how good the girl was at finding all the right places.

"You must like cats, Miss Yoshioka," her professor said, interrupting the little reunion. "To paint so many, and now this fellow," the man peered down at the lard-ball of a cat. "He looks familiar…"

"_Guardian and Protector_, sir," Haru said, naming one of her paintings. "He's also in a few others, just making a subtle appearance."

"Ah yes," he said, looking once more down the line of artworks, recalling the work he had witnessed her put into each canvas. "Are you sure you won't be selling that one? Doctor Cartwright says he would happily give you five hundred dollars for it, he just loves the character."

Muta purred, hearing compliments for a picture that had him in it, and such a grand price being offered for it, even though it wasn't for sale.

Haru smiled, just a little nervously as she thought about the offer – it was a lot of money.

"If Doctor Cartwright still wants to buy the painting when I come back from break next year, I'll take his offer into serious consideration, will that do for now sir?" Haru asked, torn between how fond she was of the picture and the knowledge that she needed the money. To add to this was the problem that she didn't really have anywhere to keep her paintings, apart from the bottom of her wardrobe at home.

The old man nodded and returned to the crowds that viewed, passed by, and paused before the works of the students. A lot of them were biased towards certain artists, being family or friends. There were also the assessors, wandering about and eavesdropping on conversations. Their decisions had been made, but they were willing to let themselves be swayed by something someone else had seen in a picture, something that they had missed when they looked. There were also, hidden among the families and the critics, unbiased public who simply knew what they liked and had enough money at their disposal to be able to buy it if they wanted. It was rumoured that there were a couple of journalists wandering about as well.

"Hey Haru, we're going out to celebrate surviving the opening night, want to come?" Phebe asked, tugging at her friend's elbow. The last of the general public were trickling out the doors into the night, and Haru watched them go with a small smile on her face.

"No thanks, I think I'll just enjoy the quiet for a while. I'll celebrate with you when it's all over, how's that sound?" Haru had taken a seat beside one of the tables that was laden with finger food, and was feeding tidbit's to the cat everyone recognised. Muta was getting a real kick out of being not only fed, but also famous.

"Sounds good to me, see you tomorrow," said the other girl, waving as she joined the last few people – students – just outside the door.

Haru poked her head out the door when the last of her peers was out of sight, searching the near-darkness for Toto and the Baron.

"Try looking up," Muta said, jumping up onto the table to help himself more easily to the food.

Haru shot Muta a glare he didn't see and turned her face to the sky outside. There, perched on top of one of the streetlights, was Toto and Baron. She waved to them and couldn't help but smile as they flew down to meet her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

She was radiant, simply breath taking. The Baron had his hand over his chest, feeling the pulse and attempting to muffle the sound of his beating heart. It was almost more than he could bare, the very sight of her: a grown woman, but still so lovely and kittenish despite that.

_Click_

Music drifted into the air from the table Muta was prowling along. He had pushed one of the buttons on the CD player by mistake. It didn't matter; the music was soft and caressing. It was the wrong song, but the feeling was the same, and the Baron was lost for a moment in the memory of holding Haru in his arms.

Her warmth enveloped him, and he realised that she was holding him in her arms. Looking about him, he saw Toto riding on her shoulder and Muta padding along beside the young woman.

"This is my collection," Haru said, coming to a stop at the top of a hallway lined with her year's efforts. "If you want a closer look at anything, I'm happy to get it down for you," she added.

Muta and Toto headed down the hall, stopping before each picture, trying to find themselves once more in her work, as they had done in the first painting she had shown them.

Baron made himself watch his companions instead of letting his thoughts dwell on the way Haru's arms twined about his upright form, brushing against him gently.

"This one is for you, Baron," Haru said, turning to the first picture. "The very first that I did, the inspiration for all the rest, but before all that, it was always going to be a present for you."

He looked and felt his heart twist within him. Haru, his little kitten, resting her head on his shoulder while he played a white glove through her brown hair. It was a portrait of two lovers, enjoying simply being together.

"Do you like it?" the girl asked, looking down at him, worried that he might not.

He saw the kitten close her eyes and sigh a contented purr, watched himself kiss her gently between the ears. Blinking back tears, he saw that they had not moved, but still his heart yearned for the life in the portrait to be real, to be his life.

"I love it," he said, taking his hat off in awe. "Thank you Haru." He knew just where he would hang it in the Bureau too.

He felt her clothing shift, her body shift, behind him. He felt her lips touch him between his ears, just as his portrait had done – only it was the other way around. He didn't bother to check the tears; tears of happiness needed no banking, merely to be tidied up later.

"Baron, do you think it was ever possible?" Haru asked, moving to the next picture. "Us, I mean. If I had stayed a cat –"

"I would still have been made of wood," the Baron interrupted, not turning to look at the girl he loved so much.

"You don't feel like wood to me," Haru said, bringing him closer to her face, causing him to slide over her chest.

Both hearts ached against the warm touch, the closeness of the other: the impossibility of their love.


End file.
